The United States had previously imposed a trade barrier on NVIDIA and AMD, preventing them from exporting advanced chips to China. This decision was made due to concerns from national security experts who believed that providing China with access to these chips could pose a threat to regional security and give China an unfair advantage over its rivals. However, in a surprising turn of events, the US has now allowed both tech companies to resume exporting chips to China, but under certain conditions.
NVIDIA responded to the trade barrier by developing a “less powerful” version of their chipset that had inferior hardware compared to the US version. This move allowed the company to still sell chips to China, but the US eventually banned the export of this version as well. On the other hand, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) attempted to negotiate with the state department for relaxation of the restrictions but was unsuccessful.
In an unexpected development, the US government has granted NVIDIA and AMD a license to export their advanced chips to China. However, there is a catch – both companies are required to share 15% of their total profits with the government. This agreement applies specifically to AMD’s sale of its MI308 chip, with the company obligated to give a portion of its earnings to the US government.
While the official approval has been granted for the chipmakers to conduct business with China, there are dissenting voices within the government. Some high-ranking national security and former government officials have raised objections to this decision, expressing concerns that it could jeopardize US security and potentially undermine the nation’s economic and military advantage in the realm of artificial intelligence.